Online gambling in Philippines: regulation, licence and market guide

Is online gambling legal in Philippines?

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) regulates and licenses domestic online gaming under its charter (Presidential Decree 1869 as amended by Republic Act 9487); the electronic gaming segment overtook casinos in 2025 with PHP 201 billion of gross gaming revenue. Licensees pay PAGCOR 30% of GGR (25% for integrated resorts) plus a minimum guaranteed monthly fee phased in during 2026. A moratorium on new Gaming System Administrator accreditations has applied since 1 March 2024, so entry is by acquiring an existing accredited company with PAGCOR Board approval. Executive Order 74 banned all offshore gaming from 31 December 2024, and 2025 brought a ban on out-of-home advertising and the unlinking of e-wallets while Congress debates further restrictions.

Regulated: Private operators can hold a local licence for online casino and/or betting.

Who regulates gambling in Philippines?

• Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) — State regulator and operator: accredits Gaming System Administrators, venue operators and service providers for e-games, e-bingo, sports betting and poker; enforces the Responsible Gaming Code and collects GGR-based fees
• Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) — Central bank; supervises the banks and e-wallets that process gambling payments and is finalizing online gambling payment rules
• Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) — State monopoly for lotto, sweepstakes and small-town lottery

Philippines gambling licence: how it works

Domestic online gaming is licensed by PAGCOR's Electronic Gaming Licensing Department. The operator of record is a Gaming System Administrator (GSA), a Philippine corporation that runs the gaming system and online platform; games and live studios come from PAGCOR-accredited service providers, and physical e-games outlets are separately licensed venue operators. By memorandum of 29 February 2024, PAGCOR placed all new GSA applications in abeyance from 1 March 2024, and in August 2026 its chairman said there was no plan to lift the moratorium; the roster had shrunk from 74 to 48 licensees. The practical route for a new entrant is to invest in or acquire an existing accredited company, which requires prior PAGCOR Board approval and probity review of every beneficial owner of 20% or more. Sublicensing, brand leasing and nominee structures are prohibited.

What an applicant needs

• Philippine corporation registered with the SEC with PHP 100 million authorized and PHP 25 million paid-up capital
• Bank certification of at least PHP 50 million and a non-refundable PHP 5 million accreditation fee per gaming activity
• Servers in a Philippine Tier 1 data center or approved cloud, with IP-blocking of registrations and bets from outside the Philippines
• Probity clearance for directors, officers and beneficial owners; ownership or board changes need PAGCOR Board approval
• Games and systems certified by a PAGCOR-accredited testing laboratory
• Compliance with the Responsible Gaming Code, the NDRP and AML reporting to the AMLC

Gambling taxes in Philippines

• Operators: PAGCOR regulatory fee of 30% of GGR for e-games from 1 January 2025 (25% for integrated resorts; 15% for live sports betting), down from rates above 50% before 2023. A minimum guaranteed fee applies from 2026: PHP 9 million a month against a PHP 30 million GGR benchmark for e-casino operators and PHP 3 million against PHP 15 million for others, rising on 1 January 2027, plus corporate income tax.
• Players: No specific tax is withheld on casino or e-games winnings as verified. PCSO lotto and sweepstakes prizes above PHP 10,000 carry a 20% final tax.
• Also: PAGCOR's own franchise revenue carries a 5% franchise tax under PD 1869. Proposals in Congress for an additional levy on online gambling had not been enacted by September 2026.

Advertising, player protection, KYC and payments

Advertising

PAGCOR ordered all licensees to remove out-of-home gambling advertising (billboards, buses, trains, jeepneys and taxis) by 15 August 2025 and now approves only institutional or responsible-gaming campaigns, under an agreement with the Ad Standards Council. Senate Bill 2347 and House Bill 10982 (both August 2026) would ban online gambling advertising, sponsorship, influencer endorsement and bonus promotions across all media; neither had passed as of September 2026.

Responsible gaming

PAGCOR's Responsible Gaming Code of Practice bars anyone under 21, students, government officials connected with gaming, and members of the armed forces and police. Self-exclusion for six months, one year or five years is enforced across all PAGCOR-regulated sites through the National Database of Restricted Persons (NDRP), and family exclusion is available.

Identity and age verification

Players register with a government photo ID and must be at least 21; systems must screen against the NDRP and capture facial images clear enough for identification. The BSP's draft payment rules add facial biometric verification at the e-wallet level.

Payments

Deposits run through e-wallets (GCash, Maya), InstaPay and PESONet bank transfers, cards and over-the-counter channels. On 14 August 2025 the BSP ordered supervised institutions to remove in-app gambling links within 48 hours; its draft circular would confine gambling payments to a separate transaction account with a daily funding cap of 20% of average balance, a six-hour daily window and a 24-hour cooling-off after heavy use, and had not been finalized by September 2026. Crypto is not an approved deposit method for PAGCOR licensees.

Notable restrictions

• Minimum age 21; students and certain public officials barred
• Registration and bets from outside the Philippines must be blocked by IP
• No out-of-home gambling advertising since 15 August 2025
• E-wallets may not host in-app links to gambling sites pending final BSP rules
• Offshore-facing licences (POGO/IGL) abolished; any site claiming one is unauthorized
• Online cockfighting (e-sabong) suspended since May 2022

Philippines iGaming market: size, players and payments

PAGCOR reported industry GGR of PHP 396.14 billion in 2025 (up 6.39%), of which electronic and online gaming produced PHP 201.12 billion (up 30.04%), or 50.77% of the total. Second-quarter 2026 GGR fell 20.33% to PHP 88.13 billion, with e-gaming at PHP 39.85 billion; PAGCOR guided to about PHP 370 billion for the full year.

PAGCOR attributed the 2026 decline in e-games partly to the unlinking of e-wallets.

Play is overwhelmingly mobile and e-wallet led; GCash and Maya are the main funding routes even after in-app links were removed.

48 online gaming licensees as of August 2026 (down from 74), led by integrated-resort brands and domestic e-games operators, with 174 accredited service providers at the end of 2024; PAGCOR is consolidating rather than expanding the market.

Timeline: how Philippines got here

1. 1983Presidential Decree 1869 consolidates PAGCOR's franchise to operate and license gaming
2. 2016PAGCOR launches the offshore gaming (POGO) licensing regime
3. 2024-03Moratorium on new Gaming System Administrator accreditations takes effect
4. 2024-11Executive Order 74 bans POGO and internet gaming licensees; all IGLs canceled from 15 December, cessation by 31 December 2024
5. 2025-01E-games fee cut to 30% of GGR (25% for integrated resorts)
6. 2025-08Out-of-home gambling ads removed by 15 August; BSP orders e-wallets to unlink gambling sites
7. 2026-03PAGCOR defers the first tranche of the minimum guaranteed fee to mid-2026
8. 2026-08PAGCOR keeps the moratorium and fee rates; licensee count at 48; ad-ban bills filed in both houses

Outlook

Three items decide the next two years: whether Congress enacts an advertising ban (Senate Bill 2347, House Bill 10982) or a total online gambling ban (bills filed in 2025), when the BSP finalizes its payment circular and how much the transaction-account limits cut deposits, and whether PAGCOR reopens GSA applications after consolidating the roster. The second tranche of the minimum guaranteed fee is scheduled for 1 January 2027. PAGCOR's stated position is stricter regulation rather than prohibition.

Launching in Philippines with GameBridge

Turnkey (your licence, our platform). The PAGCOR accreditation belongs to a Philippine corporation the operator controls, so the operator holds the licence and runs on GameBridge technology; GameBridge does not hold a PAGCOR accreditation and cannot promise that an acquisition of an accredited company will be approved.

A Philippine brand on GameBridge runs in English and Filipino with a PHP wallet, geo-controls that admit only players located in the Philippines (matching PAGCOR's IP-blocking requirement) and a 21-plus identity gate with document and selfie checks and NDRP screening. GCash, Maya and bank rails are integrated on request through the operator's PAGCOR-approved payment partners, with deposit and session limits ready for the BSP's transaction-account rules. Self-exclusion periods mirror the six-month, one-year and five-year options, hosting is arranged in a Philippine Tier 1 data center or approved cloud, and every GameBridge Studios and Originals release ships with the certification package a PAGCOR-accredited laboratory needs.

• Philippines-only geo allow list with GPS re-check, per PAGCOR IP-blocking rules
• 21-plus KYC with ID, selfie liveness and NDRP screening
• PHP wallet with GCash, Maya and InstaPay rails on request
• Responsible-gaming limits and self-exclusion terms aligned to the PAGCOR code
• Philippine data-center or approved cloud hosting
• Certification package for every GameBridge Studios and Originals version

E-casino slots, live dealer and e-bingo lead Philippine lobbies; the aggregated catalog brings studios already accredited with PAGCOR, GameBridge Studios builds basketball- or fiesta-themed exclusives, and the sportsbook covers basketball, boxing and football.

Frequently asked questions

Sources and review

Reviewed against the sources below on 11 September 2026. Regulation changes; confirm the current position with local counsel before launch.

• PAGCOR again slashes E-Games fees, now at 30% — PAGCOR, accessed 2026-09-11
• PH Gross Gaming Revenues up 6.39% to Php396.14B in 2025 — PAGCOR, accessed 2026-09-11
• PH gaming industry down 20% in Q2 2026 to Php88.13B — PAGCOR, accessed 2026-09-11
• Amended regulatory framework for the accreditation of gaming system service providers — PAGCOR, accessed 2026-09-11
• Responsible Gaming Code of Practice — PAGCOR, accessed 2026-09-11
• Executive Order No. 74 — Immediate ban of Philippine offshore gaming, internet gaming and other offshore gaming operations — Supreme Court E-Library, accessed 2026-09-11
• Exposure draft: Circular on the regulations on online gambling payment services — Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, accessed 2026-09-11
• Pagcor rules out entry of new e-gaming operators — The Philippine Star, accessed 2026-09-11
• PAGCOR defers implementation of Minimum Guaranteed Fee for licensed online operators — Inside Asian Gaming, accessed 2026-09-11

Regulatory summaries are provided for orientation only and are not legal advice. Licensing requirements change; we validate them with you during scoping.